I was shocked to learn that gamesalad Beta is free anymore. In all honestly from what I read 15 days is way to short for someone who's brand new to coding (like I was). When I started it took me at least 3 months (that includes countless & constant hours of playing around with the system, asking on the forums & watching multiple youtube videos to get a very basic understanding of how the whole the system worked.) It took me also about 3 months to make my first game (which wasn't the great but hey its was my first game).. in total it took me about 6 months of constant (give or take) to really get an idea of what I'm doing.
My personal opinion is that 15 days is way to short to get an idea of if this is something you want to peruse financially. I know for a fact that if I just started coding & I only had 15 days to learn what I know now (which took me about 1 year & 4 months & I have much more to learn) I would have never told my dad to spend $300/yr on a pro, $100/yr on IOS Dev, $25/yr on Google Play Dev, buying a $800 Macbook just for solely coding, & another $500 getting a real company established (which is still in the works). You also have to take in count that gamesalad also applies to teens with not one bit of coding knowledge (like I was). It's summer time now which gives teens a lot of time to really do what they like (for me is making apps) but when school starts up again they have school, extra curricular activities, & also homework. When I'm done with all that I'm lucky if I get an hour to work on my game at 11 pm at night before I have to go to bed & wake up at 6 AM. & this being my last year before I go to college I know I'll be way to busy to even code once day because, I'll be to focused on my SAT tests. I found gamesalad by googling "How to make apps" & this by far is one of best systems for coding because if I was forced xcode would have been way to hard for me. I'm not saying to make Gamesalad free again but the time period should be extended at least at a bare minimum of 60 - 90 days. That should give someone enough time (with no coding knowledge what so ever) to really see if this is something they want to do & will give them time to make a very basic game & have a very basic understanding how to use Gamesalad.
One thing I really do like is how they set up month payments for Pro now. I'll most likely be using that when my year is up.
@jonmulcahy said:
Then it went free for basic and $299. I think of this as the Mateen period
Mateen's certainly not going to be happy with this, maybe GS should consider a small change in the scheme.
$29/month Pro / full access to the tool, full publishing.
$19/month basic / full access to the tool, no mobile publishing.
$0 / month / full access to everyone else's code, full publishing, fries and/or salad.
dgackeyAustin, TXInactive, PRO, Chef EmeritusPosts: 699
Free publishing on iOS was always on the chopping block, truth be told, because the theory of ad revenue offsetting lost revenue never really bore fruit. Add to that the constant issues with signing, certificates and various other Apple stuff that we had no control over, and it was just unsustainable for us.
The viewer should give you a nearly identical testing environment because it's running the exact same engine as your app would have if we built you an IPA, but is just much easier to deploy.
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
The downloads to publishing figure is presently 1/10 downloads have been used to publish.
With this figure in mind then the 'pay as you use' system will gain payment from the 9/10 downloads that do not publish. This is assuming that the current download figure will remain.
I hope I am wrong and that the real, day to day, ratio is better.
I love GameSalad and am very willing to continue to put my money where my mouth is. I think you need to convert more downloads to published games. The welcome page is a great idea. Follow that with trending forum topics on there too. Also add notices to competitions. Besides the game of the month, maybe a video of the month or best sample code nominees. Anything to expand the already generous community that has been built up.
@TitanFury said:
A second crucial feature that the creator needs is the ability to access the camera of a device. If I had a nickel for every idea that I had which involved the use of the camera I'd probably be as rich as Bill Cosby. But Iv'e had to shut each one down and throw them away.
@CodeWizard Are you going to present a strategy, roadmap, timeline?
For example:
A keep GS simple (e.g. no scripting), but offer more target devices.
B 25% development for community voted changes.
C more basic features for creator (switch statements, autosave, better UI, export for actors / behaviours)
Focus on Learning
Offer more and better templates during the start of the GS creator - let's say basic templates (Universal landscape, universal ..., ...).
@CodeWizard@FINNBOGG It's really simple. Pay for the months you use. Nothing more. We don't limit your ability to EDIT your games with Basic. Add all the sweet behaviors you want. The only limitation on Basic is that you can't publish to anything but Arcade. So, come back, pay for a month of Pro (which is prorated, by the way) and publish. Then go back to Basic.
But we can't test adhoc in basic plan right ?...do we need pro to check game in iPad ,iPhone...etc...or with basic we can do
So bad for free users
So good for pro users
But the creator still limited
If it is improved (joints , custom shape , etc ... )
It will be worth to pay for it
Is there any new behaviour they added since the first release ?
except the loop and buzz behaviours
@NimbleBug said:
Ok..so Gamesalad is no mare beta ?
It is still "beta" as of right now, no news on if it will change or not. But Graphene has been put on hold, so looks like their main focus is GS Creator.
@CodeWizard@dgackey I will give my thoughts. I see the importance of bringing in more revenue. However, I believe this financial structure makes it super difficult for users like me. I'm a full time working guy with a family who has been using gamesalad to work on my game for the last two years. I'm making a detailed lengthy platformer. So I'm not releasing casual games on a regular basis. I work on my game as I have time, sometimes a lot of hours a month, sometimes only a few hours a month, but I'm always working on it. I would not have been able to afford working on it with this new model. Especially to think some months I probably only used gamesalad for about 5 hours... This model would be great if I did game design part time, every month would be justified. The thing is if I worked on my game 20hrs a week I probably would have finished it in 6-8 months. So 19 dollars a month for the first half and then 29 dollars nearer release. But the reality is working so sporadically the same development time cost me so much more working on a game 20+ months.
I really believe the pay to publish option could be smarter. Or a one time fee for basic and then monthly for pro. I couldn't afford to continue with gamesalad at the new model unless my game coming out does really well.
@RossmanBrothersGames May i ask how you are currently a PRO member? Was your situation any different before than it is now that you are second guessing buying PRO again? Because if nothing has really changed, then the current system does not affect you, and you remain PRO like you have been.
@Lovejoy said:
RossmanBrothersGames May i ask how you are currently a PRO member? Was your situation any different before than it is now that you are second guessing buying PRO again? Because if nothing has really changed, then the current system does not affect you, and you remain PRO like you have been.
Ha, I actually got a bunch of Pro months during the Amazon Game Jams. I was planning on paying for Pro around this time since my game is about to release, but benefited from that offer. So technically I wouldn't have been Pro right now, I would have waited till I needed it. I would gladly pay for Pro or publishing to release my game. My biggest concern would be paying a monthly fee for a very long term of development, especially when some months I barely use the software. Hope that makes sense.
@RossmanBrothersGames said:
Ha, I actually got a bunch of Pro months during the Amazon Game Jams. I was planning on paying for Pro around this time since my game is about to release, but benefited from that offer. So technically I wouldn't have been Pro right now, I would have waited till I needed it. I would gladly pay for Pro or publishing to release my game. My biggest concern would be paying a monthly fee for a very long term of development, especially when some months I barely use the software. Hope that makes sense.
Ah i gotcha, i now understand what you are saying. This same concern has been shared by a few other members.
I believe the focus on Creator is a great move @CodeWizard, this is where GameSalad currently has the edge. Hope more efforts can be made to market the strengths of Creator.
Some may be shocked by the option of free publishing to iOS, however, don't underestimate the positive long term effect this will have for the image of GS.
Less GS-obvious throw-away titles on the app store!
Wow it's a very great news! and i hope that this new policy bring GS more great features like multiple objects selections, joints,collisions editor etc etc...
I've got no problem paying for GameSalad when I'm ready but the $199 price that only lets one publish to the GameSalad arcade seems a bit much. You can't even embed it in your own site without the GameSalad logo on the game window showing. Not without some page hacks anyway. I wouldn't be happy paying $199 and end up running free advertising for you guys with your logo under my game. Who really goes to the arcade to play games anyway? I tend to only look at it when someone has put a link up and most of the time I'm on my phone so it looks pants and hardly works
The basic plan $19/month ($199/year) is not just for publishing to the GS Arcade. You don't have to publish your games if you choose not to. The plan also gives you unlimited access to use Creator so you are paying to use the software as it will be no longer free. After you complete your game you pay $29/month to publish your game then you can go back to $19/month to use Creator with the option of publishing to GS Arcade ... I do agree though unrestricted HTML publishing would be great if it is included in that deal ... The good thing about this as well is if you want to take a break you pay nothing till you start using the software again. It is a positive change in my opinion.
I can sort of see the benefit of that if you're not tied into a yearly subscription.
I think free with no publishing options at all should be an option too though. I also read somewhere that it takes on average 30 days to learn something which is why most trial packages are 30 days. Being a new user I don't think I'd get a good feel for it in 15 days.
There is no yearly subscription now. You can pay for your subscription yearly if you choose too but it is a monthly subscription. Yearly subscription has been scrapped. And yes I agree with you 30 day trial would have been a better option ...
Comments
I was shocked to learn that gamesalad Beta is free anymore. In all honestly from what I read 15 days is way to short for someone who's brand new to coding (like I was). When I started it took me at least 3 months (that includes countless & constant hours of playing around with the system, asking on the forums & watching multiple youtube videos to get a very basic understanding of how the whole the system worked.) It took me also about 3 months to make my first game (which wasn't the great but hey its was my first game).. in total it took me about 6 months of constant (give or take) to really get an idea of what I'm doing.
My personal opinion is that 15 days is way to short to get an idea of if this is something you want to peruse financially. I know for a fact that if I just started coding & I only had 15 days to learn what I know now (which took me about 1 year & 4 months & I have much more to learn) I would have never told my dad to spend $300/yr on a pro, $100/yr on IOS Dev, $25/yr on Google Play Dev, buying a $800 Macbook just for solely coding, & another $500 getting a real company established (which is still in the works). You also have to take in count that gamesalad also applies to teens with not one bit of coding knowledge (like I was). It's summer time now which gives teens a lot of time to really do what they like (for me is making apps) but when school starts up again they have school, extra curricular activities, & also homework. When I'm done with all that I'm lucky if I get an hour to work on my game at 11 pm at night before I have to go to bed & wake up at 6 AM. & this being my last year before I go to college I know I'll be way to busy to even code once day because, I'll be to focused on my SAT tests. I found gamesalad by googling "How to make apps" & this by far is one of best systems for coding because if I was forced xcode would have been way to hard for me. I'm not saying to make Gamesalad free again but the time period should be extended at least at a bare minimum of 60 - 90 days. That should give someone enough time (with no coding knowledge what so ever) to really see if this is something they want to do & will give them time to make a very basic game & have a very basic understanding how to use Gamesalad.
One thing I really do like is how they set up month payments for Pro now. I'll most likely be using that when my year is up.
Mateen's certainly not going to be happy with this, maybe GS should consider a small change in the scheme.
$29/month Pro / full access to the tool, full publishing.
$19/month basic / full access to the tool, no mobile publishing.
$0 / month / full access to everyone else's code, full publishing, fries and/or salad.
@bwilhelm
Free publishing on iOS was always on the chopping block, truth be told, because the theory of ad revenue offsetting lost revenue never really bore fruit. Add to that the constant issues with signing, certificates and various other Apple stuff that we had no control over, and it was just unsustainable for us.
The viewer should give you a nearly identical testing environment because it's running the exact same engine as your app would have if we built you an IPA, but is just much easier to deploy.
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
@dgackey Thanks - I will check it out.
I'll take one mateen with fries please.
Follow us: Twitter - Website
I hope GS isn't going out of business anytime soon
I think i would have a major heart attack if I received that news lol
POLAR ROLLOUT (New Line-Drawing Physics Puzzler!) - FREE Download
The downloads to publishing figure is presently 1/10 downloads have been used to publish.
With this figure in mind then the 'pay as you use' system will gain payment from the 9/10 downloads that do not publish. This is assuming that the current download figure will remain.
I hope I am wrong and that the real, day to day, ratio is better.
I love GameSalad and am very willing to continue to put my money where my mouth is. I think you need to convert more downloads to published games. The welcome page is a great idea. Follow that with trending forum topics on there too. Also add notices to competitions. Besides the game of the month, maybe a video of the month or best sample code nominees. Anything to expand the already generous community that has been built up.
+1
@CodeWizard Are you going to present a strategy, roadmap, timeline?
For example:
A keep GS simple (e.g. no scripting), but offer more target devices.
B 25% development for community voted changes.
C more basic features for creator (switch statements, autosave, better UI, export for actors / behaviours)
Offer more and better templates during the start of the GS creator - let's say basic templates (Universal landscape, universal ..., ...).
@CodeWizard @FINNBOGG It's really simple. Pay for the months you use. Nothing more. We don't limit your ability to EDIT your games with Basic. Add all the sweet behaviors you want. The only limitation on Basic is that you can't publish to anything but Arcade. So, come back, pay for a month of Pro (which is prorated, by the way) and publish. Then go back to Basic.
But we can't test adhoc in basic plan right ?...do we need pro to check game in iPad ,iPhone...etc...or with basic we can do
No adhoc, the GS Viewer is the only available option with GS Basic.
PRO can can publish and do adhocs.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
So bad for free users
So good for pro users
But the creator still limited
If it is improved (joints , custom shape , etc ... )
It will be worth to pay for it
Is there any new behaviour they added since the first release ?
except the loop and buzz behaviours
Ok..so Gamesalad is no mare beta ?
It is still "beta" as of right now, no news on if it will change or not. But Graphene has been put on hold, so looks like their main focus is GS Creator.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
@CodeWizard 15 days is very less ..most to the softwares and services giving 30 days at least .
@Lovejoy oho ok thanks for info.
@CodeWizard @dgackey I will give my thoughts. I see the importance of bringing in more revenue. However, I believe this financial structure makes it super difficult for users like me. I'm a full time working guy with a family who has been using gamesalad to work on my game for the last two years. I'm making a detailed lengthy platformer. So I'm not releasing casual games on a regular basis. I work on my game as I have time, sometimes a lot of hours a month, sometimes only a few hours a month, but I'm always working on it. I would not have been able to afford working on it with this new model. Especially to think some months I probably only used gamesalad for about 5 hours... This model would be great if I did game design part time, every month would be justified. The thing is if I worked on my game 20hrs a week I probably would have finished it in 6-8 months. So 19 dollars a month for the first half and then 29 dollars nearer release. But the reality is working so sporadically the same development time cost me so much more working on a game 20+ months.
I really believe the pay to publish option could be smarter. Or a one time fee for basic and then monthly for pro. I couldn't afford to continue with gamesalad at the new model unless my game coming out does really well.
www.rossmanbrosgames.com
@RossmanBrothersGames May i ask how you are currently a PRO member? Was your situation any different before than it is now that you are second guessing buying PRO again? Because if nothing has really changed, then the current system does not affect you, and you remain PRO like you have been.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
Ha, I actually got a bunch of Pro months during the Amazon Game Jams. I was planning on paying for Pro around this time since my game is about to release, but benefited from that offer. So technically I wouldn't have been Pro right now, I would have waited till I needed it. I would gladly pay for Pro or publishing to release my game. My biggest concern would be paying a monthly fee for a very long term of development, especially when some months I barely use the software. Hope that makes sense.
www.rossmanbrosgames.com
Ah i gotcha, i now understand what you are saying. This same concern has been shared by a few other members.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
Great news
Just renewed my yearly Pro!
GS, you have my continued support.
I believe the focus on Creator is a great move @CodeWizard, this is where GameSalad currently has the edge. Hope more efforts can be made to market the strengths of Creator.
MESSAGING, X-PLATFORM LEADERBOARDS, OFFLINE-TIMER, ANALYTICS and BACK-END CONTROL for your GameSalad projects
www.APPFORMATIVE.com
Some may be shocked by the option of free publishing to iOS, however, don't underestimate the positive long term effect this will have for the image of GS.
Less GS-obvious throw-away titles on the app store!
MESSAGING, X-PLATFORM LEADERBOARDS, OFFLINE-TIMER, ANALYTICS and BACK-END CONTROL for your GameSalad projects
www.APPFORMATIVE.com
This is great news! Keep on improving the creator!
Mental Donkey Games
Website - Facebook - Twitter
Wow it's a very great news! and i hope that this new policy bring GS more great features like multiple objects selections, joints,collisions editor etc etc...
✮My Web Site✮ ✮My Full Games On Sale✮ ✮Follow Me✮ ✮My Video Channel✮ ✮Contact Me To Buy My GS Games✮
I've got no problem paying for GameSalad when I'm ready but the $199 price that only lets one publish to the GameSalad arcade seems a bit much. You can't even embed it in your own site without the GameSalad logo on the game window showing. Not without some page hacks anyway. I wouldn't be happy paying $199 and end up running free advertising for you guys with your logo under my game. Who really goes to the arcade to play games anyway? I tend to only look at it when someone has put a link up and most of the time I'm on my phone so it looks pants and hardly works
The basic plan $19/month ($199/year) is not just for publishing to the GS Arcade. You don't have to publish your games if you choose not to. The plan also gives you unlimited access to use Creator so you are paying to use the software as it will be no longer free. After you complete your game you pay $29/month to publish your game then you can go back to $19/month to use Creator with the option of publishing to GS Arcade ... I do agree though unrestricted HTML publishing would be great if it is included in that deal ... The good thing about this as well is if you want to take a break you pay nothing till you start using the software again. It is a positive change in my opinion.
Free Mini Games and Demo Templates
I can sort of see the benefit of that if you're not tied into a yearly subscription.
I think free with no publishing options at all should be an option too though. I also read somewhere that it takes on average 30 days to learn something which is why most trial packages are 30 days. Being a new user I don't think I'd get a good feel for it in 15 days.
You're not tied into a yearly subscription.
There is no yearly subscription now. You can pay for your subscription yearly if you choose too but it is a monthly subscription. Yearly subscription has been scrapped. And yes I agree with you 30 day trial would have been a better option ...
Free Mini Games and Demo Templates